2013-10-27 Easy starting Calc on a netbook

This is fairly trivial, but useful nonetheless. Typing C-x * (which executes the calc-dispatch function) on a netbook without the numerical keypad is a pain in the neck, since you have to use Control first and Shift next. Using C-8 instead of * would be much simpler. (And C-x C-8 C-8 as an equivalent of C-x * * would be even better.) So, I’ve put this in my init.el:

(global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-8") 'calc-dispatch)
(define-key calc-dispatch-map (kbd "C-8") 'calc-same-interface)

Now I only have to memorize some 1000+ keybindings to use Calc effectively;).

PS. And do look up in the source how calc-dispatch-map is defined. I can’t really fathom the distinction between character and string usage here, but the trick to map key, C-key and M-key to the same command for most keys is interesting.

CategoryEnglish, CategoryBlog, CategoryEmacs